SilverStone Redline Series RL06 Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
SilverStone's $75 chassis has excellent LED-lit cooling and accommodations for a very clean build. We just miss the USB-C port on the previous model, and the build process is trickier than in other cases, thanks to some cable-cutout issues with ATX boards. Read More…

What We Liked…

Much-improved power button

Ample selection of top-mounted ports

Effective cooling, thanks to three LED-lit intake fans and a single exhaust

What We Didn’t…

USB Type-C port of previous model has vanished

Limited storage options

A few design choices complicate the build process

Steel could be stiffer in spots

SilverStone Redline Series RL06 Review

Table of Contents

Introduction, Design & Features

SilverStone's Redline Series RL05 was one of our favorite budget PC cases of 2016. In fact, it landed in our yearly Top 100 story as our pick for best budget chassis. And in our labs, that case is currently housing our storage testbed, running an Asus Strix X99 Gaming motherboard and a 10-core Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition processor with an Intel NVMe SSD 750 Series boot drive. So we know it's capable of housing serious hardware, despite its mid-tower size and modest price (currently about $70).

Today, we're looking at that case's successor, the SilverStone Redline Series RL06. It looks quite a bit different, thanks to a redesigned front face. Also, the power button gets a drastic redesign versus the stiff, somewhat cheap-feeling button on the RL05. And SilverStone has added a magnetic dust filter on the top of the case, where the plethora of "front-panel" ports now also live.

It's not all great news for the RL06, though, as the forward-looking front-panel USB-C port on the RL05 goes missing here. Its presence in the previous model was arguably too ahead of its time, but with more and more phones, external SSDs, and the like using the new slim, reversible port, we miss it here. Also, the power-supply shroud, while it does a good job of hiding messy cables, could use some better-placed cutout holes for poking cables through with larger motherboards.

But those quibbles aside, is the SilverStone Redline Series RL06 a worthy successor to the RL05, and still a good choice for those undertaking a new build with a modest case budget? Follow us below, where we'll build an Intel Core X-Series system into the chassis to find out just that.

Design & Ports

SilverStone sells the Redline RL06 in quite a few configurations, though all have the same internal steel chassis that supports ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards. First off, the case is available in white with silver-gray trim, or in black with red trim...

The red/black model is more in line with the RL05 we looked at last year, but the model the company sent our way for this review was white, with an acrylic side panel. The company technically offers models without front intake fans (just a single 120mm exhaust fan) and no side window. There's also a higher-end model where the left side is replaced by a tempered-glass panel (in keeping with current case trends). But neither the non-windowed entry models (RL06BR-W and RL06WS-W), nor the tempered-glass models (RL06BR-GP or RL06WS-GP) were available for sale in the United States when we wrote this. If that changes, the latter might be an interesting step up, as it would be priced at just $15 more than our review model, in theory, with an $89 MSRP.

Our review model (specifically the RL06WS-PRO) includes a trio of 120mm intake fans with white LEDs and an acrylic side window, while the black model with red trim has fans with matching red LEDs. The only other fan is an exhaust spinner at the back. It's not LED-lit, but it's nice to see it here nonetheless. Four fans in a budget case is generous, especially given that three light up. And all of the fans seem to be of decent quality—which certainly isn't a given in a budget-priced case. The previous (RL05) model included just two front intake fans, although they were a little larger, at 140mm.

At its current price of about $75, our review model of the RL06 is, technically, slightly more expensive than the previous-generation RL05, but a price adjustment at any given moment could easily erase the $5 difference. And even if it doesn't, SilverStone has added some appreciable features, aside from the already-mentioned extra fan.

While we do miss the USB Type-C port of the previous model, as we mentioned up top, with this model you get a pair of additional USB 2.0 ports, to go along with the two USB 3.0 ports and audio jacks. The movement of the ports from the front panel to the top is somewhat a matter of preference and/or case placement—probably better if your case is on the floor and arguably worse if the case is on a desk and your arms are short. But as people who are often plugging and unplugging drives and input devices on our PCs, both at work and at home, we appreciate the functional layout here, and the plethora of easy-access ports.

Also of note up here is the LED-illuminated power button on the left. It's big and easy to press. That's decidedly unlike the front-mounted button on the previous model, which was very stiff and hard to see unless you knew where it was. With the RL06, it's hard to miss the brightly lit square to the left of the top ports.

Table of Contents

SilverStone Redline Series RL06

Our Verdict:
SilverStone's $75 chassis has excellent LED-lit cooling and accommodations for a very clean build. We just miss the USB-C port on the previous model, and the build process is trickier than in other cases, thanks to some cable-cutout issues with ATX boards.

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